Now here’s a recipe the whole family will enjoy. I mean what kid can resist a dinner with the word “candied” in it? And yet the taste of this chicken is sophisticated enough to please adults as well. The chicken tenders are first dipped in egg and flour and then fried in butter. Then you place them in a 9×13 pan and prepare the “candy” sauce which is made with brown sugar, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and some spices. Pour the sauce over the chicken and then bake in the oven. Easy and delicious!

Dip the chicken tenders in egg and then in flour. Add half the butter to a large frying pan and fry half the chicken until golden brown on both sides. Repeat with the remaining butter and chicken. Place the chicken pieces in a 9×13 pan. Preheat the oven to 325. Combine in a saucepan the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, water, brown sugar, mustard, dried minced onion, and salt. Bring to a boil and then continue boiling, stirring constantly, for about 1 to 2 minutes. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Bake at 325, covered, for 25 minutes, and then uncovered for 25 minutes more.

I love to eat fudge at Christmas time. For many years, my stepmother made us her version of See’s Fudge, but this year I decided to try this recipe for Peanut Butter Fudge, and I’m glad I did because it’s every bit as good. The ingredients are similar except that you use peanut butter instead of chocolate chips and pecans instead of walnuts.

The recipe makes about five pounds of fudge, so there will be plenty to share with friends, and when you do, you will surely bring smiles to their faces!

Butter a 9×13 pan and set aside. Combine the butter, evaporated milk and sugar in a large saucepan. Bring to a hard boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Boil for exactly 5 minutes without stirring much. Remove from heat. Immediately stir in marshmallow cream and peanut butter. Add the pecans. Pour into the 9×13 pan. Let cool and cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator.

My husband and I both love Chinese dishes that use a lot of fresh vegetables. In fact, I have about 25 different Chinese recipes that are all very good, but I haven’t shared many of them yet. This particular one calls for beef, cabbage, red bell peppers, green onions, and several spices including fresh ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes. If you don’t like your dishes too spicy, just cut back on the red pepper flakes or leave them out all together.

This is a really healthy meal. Sometimes when I’m trying to lose a little bit of weight, I will eat it without the rice. It’s good either way! I hope you enjoy it!

Cut beef into thin strips about 2-inches long. In a medium bowl, stir together the next three ingredients. Add the beef and stir to coat well. Let marinate for 10 minutes. Meanwhile combine all of the cooking sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Place a wok over high heat. When the wok is hot, add 2 tablespoons of the oil. When the oil is hot, add the meat mixture. Stir-fry until meat is browned. Remove meat from the wok. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the wok. When the oil is hot, add the bell pepper and garlic. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Add the cabbage and stir-fry until the cabbage is bright green and tender-crisp, about 2-3 minutes. Return the meat mixture to the wok. Stir the cooking sauce and add to the wok, cooking until the sauce boils and thickens. Mix in the green onions. Serve over hot cooked rice.

The cookies are slightly crisp on the outside, but the insides are still soft. And can you see the sugar crystals on them? You roll the dough balls in sugar before baking them which gives them a little bit of sugar coating on the outside.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Cream together the butter and brown sugar. Beat in molasses and egg. In another bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Add to creamed mixture and slowly beat until well combined. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and then roll each in sugar to coat. Place on prepared cookie sheets, leaving space for spreading. Bake for about 8-9 minutes or until the cookies are flat, light brown and cracked on top. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for about 1 minute and then transfer to paper towels to cool completely.

I save time on these Easy Roasted Carrots by eliminating the peeling and slicing steps. Baby-cut carrots are ready to go, and because they are all uniform in size, I think they look prettier, too.

These carrots are particularly good with the fresh dill, but they look prettier with the flat-leaf parsley, which is why I used it for the photographs. I suggest trying them first with the dill. Enjoy!

Preheat the oven to 400. Rinse the carrots and then pat them dry with a paper towel. Toss them in a bowl with the olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. Place on a baking sheet in one layer and roast in the oven for 35 minutes or until they reach the desired doneness. Toss the carrots with the minced dill or parsley. If desired, sprinkle with more freshly ground black pepper.

I worked on this chicken salad recipe for quite awhile before I felt like I had it just right. Now it’s really yummy! It has all kinds of good stuff in it besides the chicken: pineapple tidbits, celery, green onions, mayonnaise, slivered almonds, raisins, and some spices. It makes for a really nice meal when it’s served on croissants. My husband won’t even try it because he hates mayonnaise, but that just means there are more leftovers for me!

I purchase the croissants from Costco because they are less expensive than my grocery store. They come in a package of twelve, and I use six for this recipe and then freeze the rest for another meal. Enjoy!

Preheat the oven to 300 and when heated, toast the almonds for 5 minutes. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the mayonnaise with 3 tablespoons of the juice drained from the can of pineapple, Dijon mustard, curry powder, salt and pepper. Add the chicken, pineapple tidbits, celery, green onions, raisins and toasted almonds. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Make sandwiches using the croissants, adding lettuce if desired.

My family and I go to PF Chang’s quite often because they have fantastic Chinese food. It’s my youngest daughter’s favorite restaurant, and she chooses to go there for her birthday every year. My husband and I always order their Hot and Sour Soup before our main dish because we love spicy foods, and egg drop soup doesn’t have enough of a kick for us.

I can’t remember where I got this recipe, but I have been working on it and making changes to it for quite some time to get it as close to PF Chang’s recipe as I could. I think it’s really close. In fact I’m not sure if I would be able to tell the difference if I was doing a blind taste test.

Sometimes I serve this soup with egg rolls that I purchase from the freezer section of the grocery store. It makes for a quick and easy Chinese dinner. Enjoy the soup!

Reconstitute the dried mushrooms according to package directions, and then slice them very thinly. Bring chicken broth to a boil. Add soy sauce, white pepper, mushrooms, chicken, and bamboo strips. Let cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine cornstarch and water. Add the cornstarch mixture to the soup a little at a time and stir until thick. Add the eggs and cook for 30 seconds. Add vinegar and tofu. Heat through.

For our Christmas dinner a year ago, my husband asked me to serve Mexican food. After thinking about it for awhile, I thought maybe it would be a good time for me to make homemade tamales. I had never made them before, and I was sort of excited about it. I went to a Mexican grocery store and bought dried corn husks, and I made the traditional masa dough. My mother and I worked for a long time spreading the masa dough onto the presoaked corn husks, adding the filling, wrapping the corn husks, and then steaming them. It was A LOT of work, and while we were working away, my mom said, “These can’t possibly be worth all this work!” I agreed, but then when we sat down to dinner, everybody loved them, and my mom said, “I think they ARE worth it!” But I had already come up with an idea. I wanted to transform the tamales into a casserole—not the kind of tamale casserole that’s covered with cornbread. That just wouldn’t do. I wanted my tamale casserole to taste like real tamales, and so I planned on using the masa dough in the casserole. You shouldn’t have to go to a Mexican market for the masa flour. In my grocery store, it is right near the regular flour. This is the brand I purchased.

This is a layered casserole, and the first layer is half of the masa dough pressed into a 9×13 pan. You top that with the pork filling.

Then you spread the remaining masa dough on top of the pork filling. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the casserole from the oven and pour the sauce on top. Bake uncovered for another 20 minutes.

Add 2 cups of cheese to the top and bake for another 5 minutes. This Tamale Casserole is awesome, and it would be even better served with my Spanish Rice. Enjoy!

Cut the pork into 6 pieces and place in a pot with the bay leaves. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 2 hours. Remove pork from broth, let cool, and then shred it. Heat oil in a large saucepan and cook the onions and garlic. Add the shredded pork and the remaining ingredients and cook for about 5 more minutes or until heated through. Set aside.

To make the masa dough, whip the butter until fluffy. Blend in the masa flour, salt, chili powder, and broth until the dough holds together well.

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 9×13 casserole dish and then press half of the masa dough into the bottom of the pan. Cover with the pork filling, and then carefully spread the remaining masa dough on top of the pork filling. It works best if you place spoonfulls of the masa dough all over the casserole, and then use a knife to spread them into a smooth layer. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. In a saucepan, heat the oil and add the flour, cooking for about a minute. Slowly add the beef broth, whisking to mix well. Add the spices and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce to simmer. Add the cheese and evaporated milk and continue to simmer for about five minutes. Remove the casserole from the oven, pour the sauce on top and bake uncovered for another 20 minutes.

Remove the casserole from the oven again, add the 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, and return to the oven for 5 more minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes before cutting into squares. If desired, top individual servings with sour cream and chopped cilantro leaves.

I know there are people out there who have something against recipes made with canned soup. But I am not one of them. In fact, I have several recipes on this website that call for canned soup, and I’m not the least bit embarrassed about it because I think every one of them is fantastic. This recipe for Slow-Cooker Chicken and Rice actually uses THREE cans of soup PLUS an envelope of dried onion soup mix! Heavens to Betsy! I suppose that would give some people reason to laugh. But I’m going to hold my head high because this recipe is delicious.

Even though it’s very good, I’ve been putting off photographing this dish for almost a year because I knew it would be hard to make it look as good as it tastes. And I’ll admit that I styled it and re-styled it several times before I was happy with the presentation. I started off with the rice behind the chicken and one tomato to the side. Then I added a second piece of chicken to the same plate. Then I decided to try a bowl instead of a plate. I placed the rice in the bottom of the bowl with one chicken breast on top and no tomato at all. Still not right. I just wasn’t getting the look I wanted, and I even considered giving up on the recipe, but I kept thinking about how delicious it is and how I want to share the recipe with all of my readers. In frustration, I transferred everything back to the original plate, placing the chicken on top of the rice and two tomatoes in the back. Finally, I was happy with the presentation, and I carried the plate into my dining room to photograph it. I hope you enjoy this one, and if you’re one of those people who has no problem with recipes that call for canned soup, all three of the dishes pictured at the bottom of this post under “You Might Also Like” use canned soup. You can make them and be proud!

Brown the chicken pieces in the oil. Coat a slow-cooker with cooking spray. Place the rice in the slow cooker. In a medium bowl, combine the three cans of soup using a whisk. Gradually whisk in the can of water until smooth. Add the onion soup mix, salt, pepper, and butter, and whisk again until smooth. Pour half of the soup mixture over the rice and mix well. Lay the browned chicken pieces over the rice mixture. Slice the mushrooms and add them to the remaining soup mixture and then pour over the chicken. Cover. Cook on low 4 to 4-1/2 hours, stirring occasionally around the edges.

Several years ago we took our kids on a trip to Washington DC, and we stayed at a French hotel called Sofitel. One night we were out seeing all of the monuments, but I had a sore throat and wasn’t feeling well. My husband offered to continue the tour with our kids, so I got on the subway and headed back to the hotel alone. When I got there, I went into their restaurant and ordered some of their French Onion Soup. Oh, it was wonderful. I haven’t forgotten it in all these years. It was the perfect comfort food for somebody with a sore throat.

Ever since then, I have wanted to be able to make French Onion Soup that is as good as what I had at the hotel that day. I can’t even remember where I got this recipe, but I have worked on it for a long time, making a lot of changes to it. I think I finally have a recipe that’s pretty close. Bon appétit!

Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Generously spray the inside of a heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Baked, covered, for 1 hour (the onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and dark brown, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping the bottom and sides of the pot after 1 hour.

Using oven mitts since the pot will be hot, stir in the sherry and cook on the stove, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, beef broth, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, pepper and the remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt. Bring just to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

For the croutons: While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and brush them with the melted butter. Bake in a 400-degree oven until the bread is crisp, about 6 minutes. Set aside. Increase the oven temperature to 450.

Set 4 individual oven-safe crocks on a baking sheet and fill each with soup. Top each bowl with 2 baguette slices and place slices of Gruyere cheese on top, overlapping the edges of the crocks with the cheese. Bake at 450 until the cheese is melted and bubbly around the edges, 3 to 6 minutes. If desired, garnish with fresh thyme.